In this Privacy Statement, we have provided information about data collected and used when you purchase a Volkswagen vehicle or otherwise interact with Volkswagen and its websites, mobile applications, vehicles, products and services, and data collected and used when you receive Car-Net® Services (defined below).
If you are the vehicle owner, you must notify any additional drivers about the privacy practices described in this Statement and if you are the Primary Driver for this vehicle’s Car-Net Services, you must notify any additional drivers of the vehicle about the Car-Net specific privacy practices described herein.
At Volkswagen of America, an operating division of Volkswagen Group of America, Inc., (“VW,” “we,” or “us”), we value your privacy and want you to know how your information will be handled and used. This Privacy Statement applies to information we obtain from and about individuals interacting with VW and its websites, mobile applications, vehicles, products and services; however, it does not apply to job applicants or VW employees.
Your vehicle contains hardware and software that enables you to receive the personal assistance and telematics-based services provided through VW Car-Net (the “Car-Net Services”).
This Statement does not apply to VW Credit, Inc. (“VCI”) or its products, contracts and related services. VCI has its own privacy statement, which can be found here .
Below we provide a summary of the general information we collect, how we use it and with whom it is shared.
If you are a California resident, please view the “Your California Privacy Rights” section of the full privacy statement for more information on your California privacy rights.
As you interact with VW and its websites, mobile applications, vehicles, products and services, we may collect certain information from or about you or your vehicle from the following sources:
As you interact with VW, its products and services, we collect different types of information from you, based on the interaction, such as when you purchase a vehicle and subscribe to Car-Net Services. The types of information that VW collects about you include:
We collect and use your information for a number of business purposes, such as:
To opt-out of receiving promotional email messages from us, please click on the "Unsubscribe" link contained at the bottom of each email. Opting out of promotional email will not affect VW’s communication with you by email about your vehicle or other product or service-related matters.
You can discontinue the Car-Net Services data collection described in this Privacy Statement at any time by unenrolling your vehicle from Car-Net. However, this will result in loss of Car-Net Services. For Model Year 2020 and newer vehicles, you can unenroll from Car-Net via the Car-Net website, Car-Net mobile app or by calling Car-Net Response Center at 1-833-648-2735. For Model Year 2019 and older vehicles, you can unenroll by calling 1-877-820-2290.
Please note that the information stored in your VW vehicle (e.g., phone contacts if you pair your smartphone, points of interest saved through navigation system) may be accessible to others who use your VW vehicle or mobile device, and thus may be deleted, altered, or transferred.
Information stored in your vehicle may also be accessible to a new owner in a private sale of the vehicle. Please consult your Owner’s Manual for instructions on how to perform a factory reset to remove information stored in your vehicle.
Nevada residents:
Please contact us at privacy@vw.com to inquire about your right to opt out of the sale of your personal information.
California residents:
Please see the Your California Rights section for more information about your privacy choices.
To provide you with a more relevant and interesting experience, VW may work with third party companies to display ads or customize the content of the VW digital properties. These companies may use cookies (a small text file), pixels, tags, or similar technologies that are placed in browsers to gather information about your visits to a VW digital property, as well as your visits elsewhere on the Internet over time. These companies use this information to provide you with more relevant advertising known as interest-based advertising. Some of these companies participate with the Digital Advertising Alliance ("DAA"). The DAA offers a choice mechanism with respect to certain types of data collection and use. We adhere to the DAA’s Self-Regulatory Principles for Online Behavioral Advertising. Visit www.aboutads.info to exercise choice with respect to DAA participants or click on the AboutAds icon on a VW advertisement and follow the instructions on how to opt out. If you change computers, devices, or browsers; use multiple computers, devices, or browsers; or delete your cookies, you may need to repeat this process for each computer, device, or browser. Opting out of interest-based advertising will not opt you out of all advertising, but rather only interest-based advertising from VW or its agents or representatives.
VW does not knowingly collect, use, share or sell the information of children under the age of 16. In the event that we learn that we have collected information from a child under age 16, we will delete that information. For questions or additional information, see the “Contact Us” section below.
The VW websites may contain links to other websites, including social networks, advertisers, VW Dealer websites, VCI websites, other Volkswagen Group websites, including websites operated by VW AG, and websites belonging to other third parties. Some of these sites may share a similar “look and feel” to the VW websites. Please be aware that we are not responsible for the privacy practices of other websites. We encourage you to read the privacy statements provided by other websites before you provide information to them.
VW maintains reasonable safeguards to protect your information. Some services, including Car-Net® Services, may involve the transmission of voice and data from your VW vehicle over wireless and cellular telephone networks and therefore, we cannot guarantee the privacy and security of conversations or data transmitted to and from your VW vehicle.
From time to time, we may update this Privacy Statement by updating this page and by displaying the date of the last update at the top of the page. We encourage you periodically to check this site to learn about the information we collect, use, and share. Your continued use of any of the VW websites, products or services affirms your agreement to such changes.
Should you have other questions or concerns about this Privacy Statement,
By email:
privacy@vw.com .
By phone:
You may contact us 24 hours a day, at: 1-800-822-8987.
By mail:
Office of General Counsel
Volkswagen Group of America
Attn: Privacy Office
2200 Ferdinand Porsche Drive, Herndon, VA 20171
If you are eligible for and opt-in to DriveView (a usage-based insurance program), VW will collect and use commercial and electronic network activity information collected through Car-Net Services about your driving behavior, such as speed, braking and seat belt usage, and GPS location in order to assess your driving and routinely provide you a DriveView score (i.e. a score based on certain factors that are considered higher indicators of risk collision, such as hard braking, nighttime driving, idle time and high speed). We will collect this data directly from you and your use of the Car-Net technologies. We also will use aggregated data to conduct driver behavior modeling (for example, comparing drivers across different states). If you opt-in and direct us to do so, we also will send your driver behavior and GPS location data to our insurance company partners for consideration. They may offer discounts depending on your driving record. You can also opt-in to DriveView and direct us to share your driving data and GPS location data with your existing insurance carrier. We will provide it only at your direction, but you may discontinue sharing at any time by un-enrolling in DriveView.
Please visit the Car-Net website for more information about the DriveView program, eligibility requirements and how you can participate.
In addition to the information provided above about the data we collect and how we use and share it, in accordance with the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), below is a list of the categories of personal information collected and for each category, the categories of third parties with whom we share the personal information for a business or commercial purpose.
Category of Personal Information | Categories of third parties to whom it was disclosed for a business purpose | Categories of third parties to whom it was sold for marketing purposes |
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Identifiers, characteristics and other information you provide (2.1) |
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Commercial information regarding vehicle purchase/lease/service (2.2) |
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Commercial and electronic activity information, such as vehicle data transmitted from your vehicle (2.3) |
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Electronic activity (2.4) |
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Geolocation data (2.5) |
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Audio, electronic, visual, thermal, olfactory, or similar information (2.6) |
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Inferences (2.7) |
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As a California resident, you have certain rights, subject to legal limitations, regarding the collection, use, and sharing of your personal information.
You can submit a Data Subject Rights Request by clicking (http://privacy.vwgoa.com/ ), and following the instructions in the web form, or you can call (833) 909-1767.
Please note that certain rights may be limited where your personal information is subject to certain state or federal laws, such as the Fair Credit Reporting Act (“FCRA), the federal Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (“GLBA”), or the California Financial Information Privacy Act.
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